About this quote

Winning any argument requires a firm grip on reality before you start spinning your narrative. Do you actually know the raw numbers, or are you just repeating what sounds good? Once you master the cold data, you gain the power to frame the story your own way. Skip this step, and your opponents will easily tear your weak arguments apart. Learn the rules of the game first so you can break them with precision.

When to use it

• Your marketing team wants to pitch a bold new campaign, but the director asks for the market research first. You say, 'Let's get the exact customer demographics down first, then we can spin the creative pitch however we want.'
• You are debating with your partner about buying a volatile stock based on a hunch. You pull up the company's balance sheet and say, 'We need to look at their actual debt levels before we decide if this risk is worth taking.'
• While writing a history paper, you try to prove an unusual thesis. You tell your study partner, 'I need to gather all the actual historical dates first, and then I can write a convincing argument for my theory.'